Low-fat meat products have evolved into mainstream delicacies. Today, consumers will choose them and conventional fare at the same time.
by Ken Krizner, senior editor
Nine years ago, Charles Harper suffered a debilitating heart attack. His illness made him realize that some of his favorite foods-including various red meat items-were high in fat and potentially hazardous to a person's health.
Harper wanted that changed.
He wanted to reshape the image of red meat as a nutritional food, low in fat and sodium, so it would correspond to the dietary guidelines he had to live by.
Of course, as chairman and CEO of ConAgra Inc., Charles Harper was in a position to effect change.
And in 1989, Harper's dream became a reality when ConAgra launched its Healthy Choice line of low-fat frozen dinners and entrees.
The launch triggered an phenomenal explosion of low-fat product introductions. More than 6,000 foods classified as low fat, light or healthy grace supermarket shelves in 1995, according to the Institute for Science in Society. The number was less than 2,000 in 1986.
Healthy Choice products were not the first low-fat meat items in supermarkets. Nestle Food Cos.' Stouffer's Lean Cuisine line was on the shelves in 1981 and is one of the great success stories of the food industry during the past 15 years.
For the most part, however, if consumers were looking for low-fat, low-sodium dinners and entrees, they usually had to travel to the far-reaches of a supermarket. Once there, consumers found products that may have been healthy, but tasted dreadful.
But Healthy Choice's timing was perfect. Americans greeted the 1990s with resolutions of lowering their fat, sodium and cholesterol intake.
Healthy Choice, Lean Cuisine and Heinz Inc.'s Weight Watchers brought healthy foods out of supermarket alleys and into the front-and-center aisles.
The meat industry has shared in the growth. In the past 17 months, 26 out of 162 items (16 percent) appearing on Meat Marketing & Technology's "New Product" page billed themselves as "healthy" or "low fat."
"If you examine today's supermarket shelves and compare them to five years ago, it's night and day," notes Jayne Hurley, senior nutritionist for Center for Science in the Public Interest. "Processors have been able to combine great taste and great nutrition. I wasn't even buying hot dogs until the low-fat and fat-free brands came on the market. They taste great and live up to their nutrition label. I love what I see coming from the meat industry."
That's high praise considering that Hurley and CSPI are no lightweights.
The consumer group has come down hard nutritionally on foods ranging from fettuccine alfredo-"a heart attack on a plate"-to movie theater popcorn-the "Godzilla"-of snacks.
Recently, CSPI labeled several traditional deli sandwiches as being worse than eating two McDonald's Quarter Pounders. (See story, page 24).
But Hurley is all smiles when she discusses the meat industry. She mentioned Healthy Choice meat products and Hormel Food Corp.'s Light & Lean hot dogs as her favorites.
"In the meat section, consumers are really getting a big fat, genuine calorie savings," she says.
And consumers seem to agree.
A random, unscientific survey at Northeast Ohio supermarkets reveals that consumers do not hesitate to buy low-fat meat products. They concur with Hurley: The products taste great, and they are nutritionally sound.
Notice that taste comes first. Consumers were unanimous in their declaration that if a low-fat product doesn't taste good, all the nutrition in the world won't save it.
The element to remember when developing low-fat products is not to go too far, according to Rosalyn Z. O'Hearn, Nestle's public affairs director. Nestle's 70-item Lean Cuisine line includes beef pot roast with whipped potatoes.
O'Hearn readily admits that other products may be lower in fat or sodium than Lean Cuisine. But she is quick to add that those products sacrifice taste to better their nutritional profile.
On its 10th anniversary in 1991, Lean Cuisine was reformulated. The line was reduced to 30 percent fat-free, from 35 percent, and sodium was reduced from 1,000 milligrams to 600 milligrams.
O'Hearn believes that is as far as a processor can go without losing taste.
"If a consumer buys a product and it doesn't taste good, there is no benefit to it being nutritious," she cautions.
Taste is the test
Taste is what put Healthy Choice on the map.
Hot dogs and bologna have helped the Healthy Choice packaged meats line produce $469 million in sales since January 1992, representing 20 percent of the total Healthy Choice product line sales.
Healthy Choice executives, as well as executives from other companies producing low-fat lines, continue to fight the perception that low-fat products can't taste good. Based on sales, they say they are winning the battle.
"We focus on the taste of Healthy Choice products in advertising and consumer promotions," says Pat Cessnun, Healthy Choice senior vice president. "By focusing on taste, we believe consumers will give our products a try. Once a consumer tries one of our [Healthy Choice] products, he or she will switch because of taste and nutrition."
Oscar Mayer Foods Corp. relies on the pioneer spirit of consumers. The Madison, Wis.-based company recently introduced its Oscar Mayer Free line, featuring a fat-free hot dog and four fat-free luncheon meats.
"Most consumers are fairly adventurous and willing to give just about anything a try," says Shelagh Thomee, Oscar Mayer assistant director of corporate affairs. "It is a highly subjective experience, but we believe once consumers taste our fat-free products, they will be hooked."
But taste has posed problems for some low-fat products. Earlier this year, Healthy Choice was forced to take its ground beef product off the shelf because of lagging sales. Company officials say they will not reintroduce the product.
It is the latest in a long line of low-fat ground beef disappointments, which has been the least successful meat entry in the category.
Just ask McDonald's about McLean DeLuxe, which debuted to a myriad of promotion and publicity in 1991, but is now just an afterthought on the fast-food giant's menu.
The ground beef problem is cooking-specifically, overcooking-according to one expert. Consumers cook low-fat ground beef similar to conventional, 20 percent fat ground beef.
If a person overcooks a low-fat hamburger, juices and moisture will cook right out of the product because there will be nothing to hold them in.
"When a person takes out the moistness and the flavor, what do they have left?" ponders Roger Mandigo, professor of animal science at the University of Nebraska. "Not much-except a tough hamburger.
"And we are selling that right now," he adds. "It's called low-fat ground beef."
CSPI's Hurley says processors need to work on delivering good-tasting, low- fat ground beef. Nearly 50 percent of beef consumption is ground beef.
"Consumers can get low-fat meat-they can purchase a round steak trimmed extra lean," she points out. "But ground beef is the No. 1 source of fat and saturated fat in a person's diet. I wish the meat industry can come up with a solution similar to its success with hot dogs and bologna."
Mandigo admits: "Getting low-fat ground beef to remain juicy and keep its flavor has been a major nightmare. People want us to take out the fat and then when we do, they say: 'Gee, it doesn't taste as good as before.' So they don't buy it."
Healthy Choice faced a similar situation with its smoked sausage product. Initial sales were disappointing so the product was reformulated, and a more aggressive approach was taken to convince retailers to allow additional space for the product on store shelves.
In the last year, smoked sausage sales have increased dramatically.
A possibility for low-fat ground beef is to play with the mathematics of fat and drive up the denominator, notes Mandigo. The denominator is water.
If a processor can add 20 percent water to ground beef, giving it 120 percent, the percentage of fat will be mathematically driven down, he says.
"Fat is controlled two ways," Mandigo points out. "It is physically removed or it isn't allowed to get into the ground beef in the first place. After 12 percent of fat is removed, it becomes difficult to remove more. It has to be driven out by using water and ingredients."
Yet, low-fat ground beef can be successful, and Irvine, Calif.-based Taco Bell Corp. is proving it.
Its recently introduced Border Lights menu has opened to rave reviews from nutritionists. Border Lights products have at least half the fat and on average 20 percent fewer calories than Taco Bell's conventional menu. It offers healthier versions of three-fourths of Taco Bell's menu.
"We don't have any super-secret ingredients in our products," says Taco Bell CEO John Martin. He notes that Border Lights tacos and burritos use lean meat, low-fat cheeses, vegetable oil and no-fat sour cream.
Even CSPI, which targeted most Mexican dishes, including tacos and burritos, as too fatty last year, is impressed with Taco Bell.
In blind taste tests conducted by CSPI, consumers could not tell whether they were eating Border Lights or Taco Bell's conventional products.
"They deserve a lot of credit in leading the fast-food industry in a new direction," Hurley says.
Mary Donkersloot, author of the book "Fast Food Diet: Quick And Healthy Eating At Home And On The Go," notes: "Taco Bell provides taste parity with the original menu. It is significant because consumers want it all with no trade-offs. No other fast-food restaurant offers healthy food that tastes this good."
Until taste and flavor are preserved, ground beef will be the orphan of the low-fat meat category and Taco Bell will be the exception, not the rule.
The fast-food industry's most visible low-fat attempt, McLean DeLuxe, is in limbo. While a spokeswoman at McDonald's Oak Brook, Ill., headquarters maintains that McLean DeLuxe is still a vital part of the restaurant's menu, one franchise assistant manager tells MM&T that promotional guides for individual restaurants don't even include the hamburger.
From alternative to mainstream
McDonald's Double Bacon Cheeseburger, Wendy's Big Bacon Classic, Jack in the Box's Colossus and Rally's Big Buford double-patty cheeseburger are recent big burger entries onto fast-food menus. It seems hamburgers full of fat are making a comeback.
And a survey conducted by the National Restaurant Association shows that consumers are less interested in the importance of healthy eating than they were two years ago.
Have Americans reneged on their resolution of maintaining a healthy diet? The consensus is no.
But what is happening is that consumers no longer consider low-fat products as alternatives. Today, they are considered mainstream.
As part of the mainstream, low-fat meat has effectively become a presence on consumers' shopping lists, not only when they think about diet, but everyday.
"Sometimes consumers want low-fat meat; sometimes they want conventional meat," Oscar Mayer's Thomee points out.
But has low-fat reached its saturation point?
"Based on our double-digit growth, we do not see an end to the demand for low-fat meats," Healthy Choice's Cessnun cautions. Healthy Choice recently re-introduced its lines of packaged and deli meats in new sizes and packages.
Nestle's O'Hearn echoes the point. "It has not reached a saturation point," she says. A new Lean Cuisine line will be introduced next month.
"I would hesitate to say there is a limit [on low-fat products]," Thomee says. "It is our challenge to provide choices the consumers are asking us for. Consumers are asking for low-fat meats."
All consumers are doing is following the lead that Charles Harper started about a decade ago
Unassuming deli sandwich joins list of notable dietary scourges
The next time you go to your favorite deli counter to order a Reuben, don't forget to tell them to hold the pastrami and cheese. For that matter, tell them to hold the corned beef, too.
That is if you accept the dietary advice of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. In its continuing quest to educate consumers on nutritionally sound foods, CSPI has put the kibosh on the sandwich.
"Even though people may think of a sandwich as a bite to eat, we find sandwich shops are giving an entire dinner's worth of fat and calories between two slices of bread," notes Jayne Hurley, CSPI senior nutritionist.
CSPI analyzed 170 sandwiches purchased at Subway, Au Bon Pain and Wall Street Deli chains. The results showed that grabbing a deli sandwich could be worse than eating two McDonald's Quarter Pounders.
The three culprits to a sandwich's nutritional base? Meat, mayonnaise and cheese.
CSPI does point out that a roast beef sandwich with mustard, at 12 grams of fat and 4 grams of saturated fat, is a wise choice for lunch. The only wiser choice is turkey and mustard, with 6 grams of fat and 2 grams of saturated fat.
On the other end of the nutritional scale lies a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich (37 grams), turkey club (34 grams) and corned beef (20 grams). Even a vegetarian sandwich-avocado and cheese-rated a low score with 40 grams of fat, twice as much as a Quarter Pounder.
About the aforementioned Reuben? Fifty grams of fat and 20 grams of saturated fat. But then again, people do not eat by bread alone.